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The $1,000 genome question has turned into, “How can we understand this data?”

His most recent book is called The $1,000 Genome, but Kevin Davies says that the $100 genome isn’t out of reach in the move toward personalized medicine.

The author and editor-in-chief of Bio-IT World laid out a brief history of whole genome sequencers – from the Roche 454 system that took off in the mid-2000s to the ionTorrent that Life Technologies says could soon sequence the genome for $1,000 in one day – at the BioOhio Regional Annual Conference on Wednesday.

While $1,000 has long been regarded as the tipping point for mass genome sequencing, the rate at which the price of sequencing a human genome has dropped has “crushed Moore’s law,” Davies said. “The $100 genome makes sense.”

BGI, the world’s largest genome sequencing lab, now churns out thousands of human genomes in a day. “The cost of sequencing is becoming almost irrelevant,” Davies said. “It’s now a computational issue.”

That also means finding a way to teach medical providers to translate the data into meaningful information for patients. “How can we train physicians to understand this data?” Davies queried. “How can we train enough genetic counselors?”

But that’s not an unattainable feat. “In the future, I think we will sequence our genomes once, and doctors will reference it often,” he said.

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By Deanna Pogorelc MedCity News

Deanna Pogorelc is a Cleveland-based reporter who writes obsessively about life science startups across the country, looking to technology transfer offices, startup incubators and investment funds to see what’s next in healthcare. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ball State University and previously covered business and education for a northeast Indiana newspaper.More posts by Author